The Colbert Report‘s host Stephen Colbert often boasts of how good things are visited upon guests of his show directly following their appearances. It’s something he refers to as “the Colbert bump,” but in a segment aired on Monday March 15, Colbert tells of one recent guest, Raj Patel, whose subsequent gain in notoriety is loftier than what the standard bump delivers.
Educated at Oxford, London School of Economics and Cornell, Patel is author of several books on subjects ranging from food security to economic justice to human rights. In a January appearance on The Colbert Report, Patel discussed his latest work, The Value of Nothing, which explores the environmental and social costs that are associated with over-consumption.
Millions saw the interview, but a very few saw something more: for spiritual organization Share International and its leader Benjamin Creme, Patel may be the incarnation of the long-expected world teacher Maitreya, whose presence “will inspire humanity to see itself as one family, and create a civilization based on sharing, economic and social justice, and global cooperation.”
As this week’s segment on Colbert’s show breaks it down for us, Patel embodies several characteristics Creme had previously identified as signifying Maitreya: he has dark skin, was born in 1972, traveled from India to London in 1977, and his speech includes an occasional bit of a stutter.
And at the risk of poking too much fun in the direction of anyone’s spiritual practice, however seemingly obscure, if you’re rolling your eyes just a bit, it’s worth pointing out that the subject himself flatly rejects any super-human mantle being extended in his direction, telling Colbert via phone that he is no messiah.
Still, for a mere mortal like the rest of us, Patel offers some impressively substantive food for thought in reflecting upon how to make the most of why it is that we’re here. In a speech before Italy’s TED-like forum 21 Minuti, Patel states:
“Generosity makes us happiest. We’ll be happier people when we share, not when we impose, but when we learn from one another. Because when I’m connected to everyone I disappear … in being excellent you lose yourself. And when you’re connected to everyone, that’s the best thing that can happen.”
So while he may not be the world teacher envisioned by one group, Patel just the same seems to be someone whose work and wisdom render him well worth paying attention and listening to.
Photo by Jan Sturmann, courtesy of Raj Patel via Wikimedia Commons.
